What book do think should be made into a movie?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

Read a great book lately that you think should be made into a movie? Tell us about it.

My vote is Somebody's Baby, by Elaine Kagan. The first part is the story of a girl back in the sixties in Kansas City, MO, , who falls in love with a boy her mother can't stand because he's not from a jewish, upper middle class family. The girl gets pregnant, plans to run away to Oklahoma to get married. Before they can, the mother turns the boyfriend in for skipping parole. He's hauled back to california and she's, ironically, sent to california to a home for wayward girls. She has the baby, and instead of giving her up to a jewish family as planned, she gives the baby to a catholic one, partly to tick her mother off who refused to let her keep the baby, and partly because her first true friend, whom she met there, was catholic and she was great to her. The second half of the book follows the journey of the daughter looking for her biological mother and father and the struggles she goes through.
I just think it would make such a great movie.
Duckie

[Jack_Dawson]

1. The Shining

Now THAT would be a cool movie...

[YellowRubberDuckie]

3. Um, sweetie, it's already been made twice.

[elperromagico]

6. That's what you think.

:D

[asthmaticeog]

34. But, but, but...

[elperromagico]

38. I've always liked that bit of Photoshopping.

Very funny. :D

[Screaming Lord Byron]

2. Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland.

So Vancouver can actually play Vancouver for once.

[flamingyouth]

8. LOL - and not Seattle

:)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

9. Or San Francisco.

Hell, it's even New York in one of 'em.

[flamingyouth]

14. I love it when they don't even bother to move the Canada Post boxes

I notice that a lot.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

15. Prime culprit - the Chris Isaak show.

[flamingyouth]

18. Yeah, I noticed that all the time

I was also struck by how perpetually cloudy and woodsy "San Francisco" appeared whenever I watched that.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

19. Yeah. They really aren't fooling anyone there.

There was one episode where Chris had to post something and walked past a Canada Post box to get to the US Mail box.

[flamingyouth]

20. I remember that!

We were cracking up!!

[DarkPhenyx]

4. I'd love to see the Honor Harrington series turned into movies.

Would need Angeina Jolie to play Honor.

[Kellanved]

57. agreed

But military SciFi movies seem to be in low demand.

I wood even be content with a good Hornblower movie.

[DarkPhenyx]

58. Have you caught the Horatio series on..???...

Oh crap! what station is that? Bravo, Biography...maybe History. It's pretty good really.

[Kellanved]

59. on DVD

Caught one Ep in the UK and bought the DVDs then, It is well done, but very low budget. Nice, but nowhere close to the books...

[elperromagico]

5. "The Way Things Ought To Be" by the Vulgar Junkie.

Great movie for pill-poppers. :D

[YellowRubberDuckie]

10. Why is it always drugs with you?

:eyes:
Duckie

[elperromagico]

12. Why is it always why is it always drugs with me with you?

Hmm?!? Answer me that.

[terrya]

7. "At Swim, Two Boys" by Jamie O'Neill

It's a lovely, gorgeously written book about the friendship...and love...between two teenaged boys in Dublin in 1918. I can't remember reading a book that so transported me in time and place. If O'Neill did the screenplay, and a good director involved (Stephen Frears would be perfect for this), it would make a marvelous film.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

11. Also, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta Series.

THOSE would make FABULOUS Movies.
Duckie

[redqueen]

21. Only if she converts

so she doesn't give any the profits to the RNC.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

22. Oh god, you're kidding me....

That just doesn't sound right to me. She's a rethuglican? :cry:
I love her books!
Duckie

[redqueen]

28. No, I wish I were kidding.

I love her books too. Sad, but true. :(

[RFKHumphreyObama]

68. Yes that's true

I can't find the links to the articles in which I read it but I know that she's a self-confessed Repug

[Screaming Lord Byron]

84. Almost as bad was her dubious claim to have solved Jack the Ripper.

Talk about hubris.

[Bertha Venation]

87. Big deal.

Nothing personal, redqueen.

[carpe_vinum]

13. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

[flamingyouth]

16. "Good Grief," by Lolly Winston

A great book about a young widow who totally changes her life. I really liked it a lot.

[NuckinFutz]

17. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Can't remember the author. It's an unusual take on Cinderella from viewpoint of one of the sisters. The same author also wrote a book highlighting the trials and tribulations of the Wicked Witch of the West, and how she became what she was. Both would make for very interesting cinema.

[Wednesdays]

25. Been there, done that.

"Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" aired on ABC in March 2002 as a made-for-TV movie. I remember Stockard Channing played the stepmother.

On the other hand, a film adaptation of Wicked--musical version or not--would be da bomb!!

[NuckinFutz]

26. Woops! Guess thaqt shows how much noncable I watch...n/t

[Anaxamander]

23. "The Gospel Singer" by Harry Crews...

...but it should have been made in the '70s, back when they made some good movies.

[JohnKleeb]

24. Not a movie idea but a great mini series idea

Ive been reading Gulag for a while now and I think that would make a phenonimal mini series. Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley would make a great movie I think too.

[Red State Rebel]

27. Memoirs of a Geisha

If they could capture that book it would be fabulous.

[tjdee]

39. They're doing it.

Don't quote me, but I think Spielberg was interested in doing it??
It's definitely being made though.

[tjdee]

64. ROB MARSHALL, who did Chicago, not Spielberg, LOL.

Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh are going to be in it, I'm unsure who the characters are but here's a page about it:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397535/fullcredits

[fknobbit]

29. Sword of Shannara

Trilogy by Terry Brooks.

[lazarus]

31. Been done

Peter Jackson released a film of the source material for those books. Three of them, actually.

:evilgrin:

[Surf Cowboy]

30. Gravity's Rainbow.

[loudestchick]

32. The White Plague

It's Frank Herbert's take on the effects of one man's extraordinary revenge after his family is killed by a terrorist bomb in N. Ireland.

[Maleficus]

33. I just read "Queen of the Damned" (again), but...

we all know that it was made into a movie a couple years ago (it rather sucked).

So I'd like to say that it should be re-made, but with bettor actors and it should follow the book more.

[asthmaticeog]

35. Infinite Jest.

It'd never work, unless someone really, really wanted to make a massively confusing, defiantly anti-linear 20-hour film with no ending, but it'd be fun to watch the trainweck if anyone tried to film it.

[qb]

36. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Wonderful plot twists that could translate well to the big screen.

[UrbScotty]

37. "The Giver" by Lois Lowry

We read The Giver in 8th grade English class. Someone said, "Have they made a movie out of this?" Many people agreed that it would be cool if they did.

[loudestchick]

45. they should

it' a very visual book...my 6th graders love it.

[barb162]

40. "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand

[Screaming Lord Byron]

41. Scary.

[barb162]

43. what's scary?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

44. Ayn Rand and her disturbing, extremist worldview.

That's scary.

[barb162]

47. okay, I'll go along with that

I think her view was formed when she was a kid in Russia under an extremist society. I think I understand how she formed her own opposite extremist view to that. It is not scary to me...just a good read, summation of HER values, her passion.

[barb162]

42. and redo "The Fountainhead" by Rand

from that crappy version with Gary Cooper in the starring role

[bigwillq]

46. They're finally making it!!!

Friday Night Lights, it's coming out in October!

[Mojambo]

48. If he ever finishes it,

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan could make quite an epic series of films.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

49. Maybe a modern 1984?

Discuss.
Duckie

[tjdee]

54. They did it on television a few years ago...

I remember being so excited....it was eh, okay.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

85. The John Hurt one? The one the Eurythmics did the soundtrack for?

[Dogmudgeon]

50. Wilt!

Wilt, The Wilt Alternative, and/or Wilt On High, a series of hilarious comedies of manners by Tom Sharpe. He also wrote other such stories, many of which would make good movies.

The Stray Lamb by Thorne Smith, who also wrote Topper and The Passionate Witch, the story that was turned into Bewitched.

The Forge of God by Greg Bear would make an intense SF/disaster movie without the need for much special effects work.

--bkl

[grace0418]

51. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay

And I want Adrien Brody to play the artist (Kavalier, I think).

[Dastard Stepchild]

67. I second that.

[Jean Louise Finch]

69. it's underway

though i don't know if it has been cast yet. IMBD reports that Stephen Daldry (the Hours, Billy Elliot) is directing and Chabon wrote the screenplay.

I have my doubts that a book that brilliant can be turned into anything worth watching, but perhaps if Chabon will be involved, and Wonder Boys did turn out rather well...but I always get so nervous that the movie coming means people won't READ it.

[kodi]

52. ted sturgeon's short story "the microcosmic god"

or olaf stapledon's "star maker." THAT i want to see on acid.

[AgadorSparticus]

53. not sure if they've done it yet or not, but i'd like to see a major

motion picture of the chronicles of narnia. i think it is in the woodworks. as soon as i can get through my recent pile of political books, i'm going to reread this great series.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

86. It's underway in NZ as we speak.

I believe WETA is involved.

[baldguy]

55. Fortunate Son by J H Hatfield

and how about Kitty Kelley's "The Family" as a mini-series?

[vetwife]

81. Fortunate Son was done and called Horns and Halos

[tjdee]

56. My book. Eh, and Faulker.

Of course, it's not finished yet, but when it's done, by golly, it will just scream "major motion picture".

Also, I'd love to see a film version of any Faulker book. Particularly The Wild Palms--they did a Hallmark tv movie of it and slapped on the title the Old Man...whatEVER LOL.

And another of course: I'd like to put in a word for original film scripts being made into films. Doesn't seem to happen much anymore.

[shingashong]

60. Not sure if anyone will agree

but I'm a huge VC Andrews fan...LOL. The Flowers In The Attic version in 1987 was okay- but was a lot diff than the book. I would like to see the WHOLE series played out (Dollanganger) as well as the Casteel (Heaven) series.

Another one I would love to see made?? "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb.

[tjdee]

62. Wow, had totally forgotten about VC.

She was monstrously popular among the popular girls when I was in high school, whatever that means...

But yeah, it's kind of surprising she hasn't had any movie deals ala King, especially, if memory serves me right (very rare), there are a number of young characters in her books (well, in Flowers in the Attic). Considering how teen crazy popular media is these days, she should be a shoo-in.

[shingashong]

63. I would only like to see the books she wrote while alive

to be made into series because the new ones (Ghostwriter series) are just bland.

[WindRavenX]

61. "Otherland" series

Kinda a Matrix meets global mythology series...absolutly fab though.

[Mojambo]

79. Otherland would be cool

Good idea!

[CrownPrinceBandar]

65. "Footfall" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle......................

I know they're both repukes, but I think it is the quintessential alien invasion story.

I'd also like to see movie versions of:
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Ringworld - Larry Niven
Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey
God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert
Lucifer's Hammer - Niven, Pournelle (better than Armageddon and Deep Impact combined)

[skygazer]

66. I'm a purist

I hate to see any good book turned into a movie. There are very few of them that do justice to the original - most of the ones that come close only do so because the book was so incredibly good to begin with (To Kill A Mockingbird comes to mind).

[gmoney]

70. Microsoft Office for Dummies

A real page turner

[Catherine Vincent]

71. "My Life" by William Jefferson Clinton

And the actor that should play Big Dog is David Morse:



Another pic (he's the one on the left)
?path=pgallery&path_key=Morse,%20David%20(I)

[Crowdance]

72. Snowcrash

out cyberpunks Gibson, and a GREAT story.

[Tredge]

73. "Post Office" by Charles Bukowski

It would need a little massaging, since it doesn't quite have the traditional story arc, but then that's not always necessary either with the right script and director. Give it to a team with the grit to not dilute it and can understand the material, and it would be so nice.

[BlueJazz]

74. Tron

I'm George Bush and I approved this message

[okieinpain]

75. the dark towers, I want the black guy off of the x-files as rowland.

edit: I have no idea where down towers came from. weird.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

78. You mean, Steven Williams?

X was cool.

[JSJ]

76. "catcher in the rye"

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

77. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. That was a great novel.

Being a fan of classical myth, I loved who she wove that into a modern murder mystery. As for another choice, it's a graphic novel, but its the best comic book story ever. It's Watchmen by Alan Moore. I'm telling you, the story is so relevant today.

[Tom Kitten]

80. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

It's a short novel, easily filmable and full of nice paranoia...

[hyphenate]

82. Silverlock

I've thought about sending Peter Jackson a copy of the book.

[LWolf]

83. None.

I think it would be refreshing to see screenwriters have to write original stuff, and for the wonderful, rich worlds inside pages to stay right there. I've almost never seen a movie made from a book that did not disappoint me; that did not leave some of the depth and complexity behind. To me, the movie is like Cliff notes for the book. I can't stand to see great literature dumbed down for the screen. It's good that people have to atually open the covers and read; it's good for people to engage their brains to visualize the sets, the sights, the sounds, the smells, in their stories.

[Bertha Venation]

88. Beach Music by Pat Conroy -- BUT! --

It has to be done very carefully and thoughtfully. They did a good job, I thought, of converting The Prince of Tides to film. They had to change stuff or the film would've been eight hours long. And no, TV miniseries isn't an option for Beach Music -- unless maybe HBO does it.

Maybe the same crew as did TPOT could do Beach Music. I can see Barbra Streisand as Lucy. NOT Ledare. Not even Shyla.

[Mrs. Venation]

89. Bingo, by Rita Mae Brown

Bingo is one of the funniest books I've ever read. It would make a great movie!

[Chovexani]

90. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

One of the funniest books I've ever read. It's a black comedy about the end of the world and totally skewers Christian end times stuff. IIRC, the project's been in development hell for a number of years, and I have the feeling it would be torn to shreds in movie form.

Still, if Gaiman & Pratchett wrote the screenplay and Tim Burton directed it (or Peter Jackson), it would be a masterpiece.

[Gothic Sponge]

91. Dune

I didn't care for the David Lynch version. The Sci-fi channel miniseries was okay, but i'd love to see Dune get the same big budget treatment Lord of the Rings received.

[blindpig]

92. None!

Cinema fucks up nearly every good book they lay their hands on. LOTR was a grevious disappointment. The only flick that measures up to the book that I can think of is Fear and Loathing. Perhaps my attention span is too long.

[stupid grin]

93. The Onion Girl, by Charles de Lint

Anything by Charles de Lint, for that matter, would be interesting to see on the big screen.